The Dardanelles

Situated within modern day Turkey the Dardanelles is part of a stretch of water that separates Europe from Asia. Known to the ancients as the Hellespont its southern entrance is between Cape Helles and Kum Kale is two miles wide. It widens to about five miles in Erenkui Bay before narrowing to a mile and a half at Kephez point before reaching The Narrows where the two land masses are only three-quarters of a mile apart.

The Dardanelles lead into the Sea of Marmora and up to Istanbul which is itself protected from the Black Sea by another narrow channel, The Bosphorus.​The Dardanelles has been of strategic importance since at least since the Persian King Xerxes crossed The Narrows on his invasion of Greece. In 1915 Winston Churchill gained Cabinet approval for a campaign to force the Dardanelles, threaten Istanbul and knock Turkey out of the war. This led to the infamous Gallipoli campaign.

​This tour starts with the entrance to the Dardanelles. There are boat tours from Istanbul, which cover the whole journey.

The entrance was protected by gun positions on Cape Helles and a fort on the other side of the straits at Canakkale.

The Turkish WW1 minelayer Nusrat at Canakkale

Further up on the Gallipoli side is the Turkish fort at Kilitbahir and the nearby WW1 gun positions.

At the other end guarding the Bosphorus we have Rumeli Hisar. Finally, the Genoese castle on the other shore.